I LOVE shaping surfboards and I'm kinda obsessed with this craft. Even though I am about to shape my 205th board I'm still considering myself as a novice but I hope to become a master one day... This blog is a virtual portfolio and a diary of my journey in the shaping world. Feel free to leave comments or contact me directly at valerie@meremadesurfboards.com.

Valerie Duprat

-Shaper of Mère-Made Surfboards

Saturday, July 9, 2016

board#111: shortboard for Philippe

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Dimensions: 6'2 x 19 1/2 x 2 7/8[completed in September 2015]

The story: Philippe is a car collector. Mainly Porsche but since he lives in California he started collecting Mustang too. Earlier in 2015 we collaborated on a decoration board which matches his first Mustang (click here to see it). When he bought the second one, he naturally asked for a second board.

sketch sent by Philippe

The shape: the idea was to make a fast looking board like a shortboard. So far nothing unusual. I thought the hard part would come from the artwork (to match the car paint). Until Philippe hit me with his crazy idea: we wanted to reproduce the very specific hood and car boot of the GT350 on the board... This sounded so fun on paper but I quickly realized it would be a little nightmare not only for me the shaper but also for my glasser. It took me countless hours to shape that thing. I did it in two phases: the first shape was rough to incorporate a progressive step deck and the kick tail. I had to use the thickest blank and literally carve the board in it. It was a lot of engineering work to figure out the way to do this!!! First phase was looking good to me and I would have left it that way if Philippe hadn't made me work more on the step deck: he knows what he wants and he wanted EXACTLY the design of the hood. He offered to come help/supervise the rest of the shape to make sure I get it right.

The second phase (hold carving) was an extra 6 hours of work. However I have to admit I am glad Philippe pushed me: the final shape looked 10x better and it was definitely worth the additional nightmare/headache... but this was just the shape... artwork is coming and it was not a piece of cake either...

The artwork: of course, the artwork had to match the car. That was the whole purpose of it. like the shape, the artwork took several phases to complete. Philippe drove the actual car to Global Glassing for them to match the color of the overall paint job which was done on top of the glass. Then I got the painted board back home to place the tape for the white racing stripes and GT350 logo. Again, Philippe helped the stripes placement to make sure everything was align to his car. Then the board was sent back to the glass shop for the white spray paint job and the final hot coat. This definitely was challenging for the glassing crew but they did terrific job and like me, they were excited to do something challenging and different. When it came back finished, I felt the mission was completed. I felt relieved and satisfied.

The photoshoot: even though I love taking pictures, the two Mustang/matching boards deserved a professional photographer and Laurent Chantegros came to shoot the beasts. Thank you so much Laurent! Your pictures turned out really astonishing like usual!

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

Photo: Laurent Chantegros

planer job to carve out the step deck and kick tail

from the bottom, it looks normal

smoothed out kick tail

Phase 1

Philippe helping on the fine shaping of the deck (hood)

taping work for the white stipes

Laurent sitting in the bed of the truck for the road action pictures !!!